First They Came For The Communists...
Here we are. Nazi Germany, part 2, in 3D.
Who was Pastor Martin Niemöller?
Martin Niemöller was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany, who in the 1920 - 30’s sympathized with the Nazis and supported the radical right-wing political movement. He eventually became a critic of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church and spent 1937 to 1945 in Nazi prisons and concentration camps — a personal prisoner of Hitler’s.
It is time to start speaking out. Do not be complicit by staying quiet.
Who are the enemies of the MAGA movement that will be targeted? Academics, journalists, civil servants, immigrants, LGBTQ community, women, sociologists, scientists, librarians, election officials, environmentalists, union leaders, doctors and other medical professionals, judges, people of color, Democrats, socialists, anyone who does not agree with Trump, and many more.
When you encounter a heels-dug-in MAGA over the holidays, be it a friend or family member, pass along the link to this story about Pastor Niemöller, a good Christian from a wealthy suburb of Berlin and an early fervent supporter of Hitler. The parallels with "people of conscience" in the current MAGA movement are uncanny. Sprinkle this link wherever you go online and plant some seeds of doubt.
We cannot stay silent.
Chris Andrews: Pfarrer Martin Niemöller, despite these words, was far from silent. Pfarrer Niemöller was a co-founder of the Bekennende Kirche (Confessing Church), with Rudolf Bultmann, Karl Barth, Friedrich Gogarten, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Confessing Church separated from the Nazis and boldly claimed that all, including Jews, in Christ were One.
In 1938, Bonhoeffer spent months in New York in a position of honor at Union Theological Seminary, and leading theologians asked Bonhoeffer to stay.
Bonhoeffer would have been safe in New York with his German in exile friends, chiefly, the great Paul Tillich.
Tillich's book was burnt in 1933; and Tillich left for America for Union Theological Seminary that year.
Bonhoeffer returned to Germany; engaged in espionage against the Nazi state; leagued with planned assassins of Hitler; was tortured and imprisoned by the Gestapo; was executed on personal order of Heinrich Himmler in April, 1945, within a month of war's end.
Pastor Martin Niemöller and others were what remained of opposition within the Third Reich, the most of which were at the University of Marburg with Rudolf Bultmann and Friedrich Gogarten.
It is because of people like these that there was ANY foundation left to rebuild a Democracy after the end of the Third Reich.
Yeah, this was how it started, and it continues today with Project 2025!